Old Miss Holly's Yule Eve

It is another cool Yule eve
And Old Miss Holly sips her tea
Her thoughts go well back in time
To other Yules, so sweet and fine
When her old cat still was here
Those times were ever dear.

Holly shakes her head promptly:
“Yule’s no time to feel lonely”
“Let me go and see my neighbour”
“Hear their children play in laughter.”
So she steps out into the cold
And starts to plough through the snow.

There, she sees the children play
Enjoyin’ the cool winter day
She joins the snowball battle rage
Quite forgetting her old age
In the end, they go back inside
And dig into pork and pies.

Yet a small lass saves some pork
And pours some cream into a mug
She takes them out, to the porch
Lays them beneath a festive torch
Old Holly asks: “Tell me, little Miss:”
“For whom do you leave this feast?”

“For the Yule Man, I know he’s real”
“Every Yule, he comes here and eats”
“He comes at night, and ere the dawn”
“All the pork and cream are gone.”

Old Miss Holly smiles at the child
How can imagination be so wild!
Yet when she goes home, ever careless,
Something is making her feel restless
So she puts a cup of cream on the snow
Back inside, she waits by a window.

And when she is almost sleeping
She sees a strange creature creeping
She darts outside, can’t believe her eyes:
It’s her old cat, with a creamy smile!

“Hullo Holly, and a merry Yule!”
“I’ve been thinkin’ a lot of you”
“Sweet mem’ry from my previous life”
“You always treated me so nice.”
“Thank you for those lovely days”
“Now, back to my mysterious ways…”

And so, the cat was gone in a breeze
It all seemed like a peculiar dream
But Holly smiled and whispered to herself:
“Merry Yule to you, my dear old friend.”
“Maybe we’ll meet again one day”
“When we’re both cats, as they say.”